Stock quotation system



Oct. 12, 1937. J. BELLAMY 2,095,730

STOCK QUOTATION SYSTEM Filed Dec. 11, 1929 16 Sheets-Sheet 1 STOCK-LETTER KEYS l-PF A B C D E F 6 H I 2-PF d K L M N 0 P Q R EPSTUVWXYZJohn I. Bellamy M 53 Oct. 12, 1937. J. l. BELLAMY 2,095,730 I STOCKQUOTATION SYSTEM PEG/5 T5175 %W 1 EEz- Oct. 12, 1937. J. I. BELLAMY2,095,730

STOCK QUOTATION SYSTEM Filed Dec. 11, 1929 16 Sheets-Sheet 3 5706/1 Tl?ID F @"1 H2 E i A 5 571 p i In u e n u 1" J1: hm I. BEHEJTIH Q4122 fiOct. 12, 1937.

STOCK- CODE PEG/STEPS J. l. BELLAMY STOCK QUOTATION SYSTEM Filed Dec.11, 1929 16 Sheets-Sheet 4 H *H-I 5 0 A A a LN L l 4 l 1'! L l 1 4-'Inuan'tor Jul-1n I. B eHam Oct. 12, 1937. J. BELLAMY 2,095,730

STOCK QUOTATION SYSTEM Filed Dec. 11, 1929 16 Sheets-Sheet 5STOC'K-PA/VGE KEYS F761 F/6.2 F/6.3 F764 F/G7 F768 F76 FIG /0 F76. FIG.12

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STOCK QUOTATION SYSTEM Filed Dec. 11, 1929 16 Sheets-Sheet 6 2:5; STOCK-FAA/6E PEG/STEP PEG/STEP 557' f2.

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Oct. 12, 1937. J. l. BELLAMY 2,095,730

STOCK QUOTATION SYSTEM Filed Dec. 11, 1929 16 Sheets-Sheet 7 JohnlBeuamj 2 E E.

Oct. 12, 1937. J. 1. BELLAMY 2,095,730

STOCK QUOTATION SYSTEM Filed Dec. 11, 1929 16 Sheets-Sheet 8 SENDER IJuhn LBeuamj STOCK QUOTATION SYSTEM Filed Dec. 11, 1929 16 Sheets-Sheet9 SEA/DEA Irwin ur Jul-m I. Bull-m Oct. 12, 1937. J. l. BELLAMY2,095,730

STOCK QUOTATION SYSTEI Filed Dec. 11, 1929 16 Sheets-Sheet 11 4 in?ltd-DJ??? k: F I T- f- I if Th" 1* T "I Q Q Q Rh was,

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STOCK QUOTATION SYSTEM Filed Dec. 11, 1929 16 Sheets-Sheet l2 Oct. 12,1937. J BELLAMY 2,095,730

STOCK QUOTATION SYSTEM Filed Dec. 11, 1929 16 Sheets-Sheet 15 F1 1151LOCAL $ENOEA Jnhn 1521151115 Oct. 12, 1937. J. l. BELLAMY STOCKQUOTATION SYSTEM Filed Dec. 11, 1929 16 Sheets-Sheet l4 QQKUNQWWWQNQQIDI Ifiul Jaha I. Baum-n M. 5 z

Oct. 12, 1937. J. l. BELLAMY STOCK QUOTATION SYSTEM 16 Sheets-Sheet l5Filed Dec. 11, 1929 Em rm rm J'clhn I. B mum-m Oct. 12, 1937. J. I.BELLAMY STOCK QUOTATION SYSTEM Filed Dec. 11, 1929 16 Sheets-Sheet 16 Qm b n b n m N QQ i will AQQ

Juhn lBeUam Patented on. 12, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE STOCKQUOTATION SYSTEM Delaware Application December 11, 1929, Serial No.413,205

iclaims.

The present system relates to transmitting and receiving systems, but isconcerned more particularly with systems of this kind wherein thetransmitter comprises a register sender and wherein the receivercomprises an indicating device responsive to impulses received from thetransmitter.

The main object, broadly stated, is the production of a new and improvedtransmitting and receiving system suitable for transmitting informationregarding the selling price of stocks so that such prices may bereceived and set up on indicators at a plurality of points.

The system herein disclosed is an improvement on the system disclosed inthe application of Bellamy et al., Serial Number 378,208, filed July 15,1929 corresponding to British Patent 358,889. As pointed out in thisprior application, it is customary for a stock broker to have aso-called stock ticker in his ofilce from which a tape slowly unwinds,giving the selling prices of the active stocks. The broker has anattendant who reads the tape and marks down the prices on a blackboardso that the waiting customers may see the trend of the market. Inaddition to showing the last selling price in a space provided under thename of a given stock, the blackboard shows yesterdays closing price,todays opening price, the high price of the day, and the low price ofthe day.

Certain of the features described in this application are being claimedin the divisional application Serial No. 527,905, filed April 6, i931,and also in the divisional application Serial No. 540,993, filed May 29,1931.

General description whole, is quite enormous, and it is to the interestof efiiciency to reduce this labor to a minimum. For this purpose, it isproposed in the abovementioned prior application, to provide a singlepoint at which the desired information can be recorded and to provide anautomatically operated indicator in each broker's ofllce controlledfroma separate transmitter at the single recording point.

It is proposed further in the said prior application, to make use theusual ticker tape at the central point, and to provide two operators for(CI. m-sssi setting up the quotations. The stocks are listed by means ofthe letters of the alphabet, some stocks being represented by a singleletter, some by two, and others by three. In order to make a division ofstocks between the two operators, all stocks represented by the lettersA to K may be assigned to one operator, as well as all stocks of two orthree letters of which the first letter is A to K. The second operatortakes care of the sales involving the stocks L to Z and the pluralletter stocks whose designations begin with any one of the letters L toZ.

Certain outstanding features that distinguish the present systems fromthe system disclosed in the above-mentioned prior application are asfollows:

1. In the transmitter, instead of depending upon a slow-acting relay toprovide the timing between successive transmissions, additional countingrelays are provided auxiliary to the sender which count a predeterminednumber of operations of the controlling interrupter before permittingthe sender to start a new quotation.

2. In order to obviate the use of repeaters between the transmitter andthe plurality of receivers to be operated thereby, and in order tosecure faster operation in the receiver, a novel arrangement has beendevised employing vacuum tubes in the receivers which respond to theimpulses from the transmitter and repeat current impulses to thereceiving apparatus. The advantage of this arrangement is that thecurrent flow over the connecting line between the transmitter and themultiply-connected receivers is practically zero, and that relativelysmall potential changes of the interconnecting conductor, cause anydesired current change in the receivers through the medium of thereceiving vacuum tubes. 3. In the receiver, a local sender is providedto set the stock registers under the control of the registeringapparatus which responds to the received impulses. By this means, theregisters themselves may be made simple responding devices without atesting function, as in one modiilcation of the-said prior applicationand without elaborate mechanical interconnections as in the othermodification of the said prior application.

4. By means of novel circuits within the receiver, a portion of theregister can be released so that a second quotation may be partlyreceived while the local sending apparatus is setting the stockregisters in accordance with a first quotation.

In the local sender employed in the receiver to set thestock registers,new circuit arrangements have been devised which may be applicable tosenders in general. One new arrangement involves using animpulse-transforming device, preceding the counting-relay chain of thesender, arranged to send only half as many impulses to the said countingrelays as are sent to the stock registers being operated, so as toenable a reliable counting-relay arrangement to be used, employing tworelays per impulse delivered to the counting relays, but only one relayper impulse delivered to the stock registers.

The transmitter is arranged to transmit the so-cailed price range digitas part of each quotation, in this manner information is made availablein the receiver of the number of price digits contained in eachquotation before the price digits are received. This arrangement permitsthe local sender to be started earlier to thereby increase thepermissible overlapping of successive quotations as will be hereinafterdescribed.

Description of drawings Referring now to the drawings comprising Figs.1-17, they show by means of the usual circuit diagrams and mechanicaldrawings a transmitting and receiving system embodying the features ofthe invention. More in particular, Figs. 1-8 and 8A show a transmitterwhich may be designated as the transmitter TI; Fig. 9 indicates thetransmitters T2, T3, and T4, together with a few of the plurality ofreceivers; Figs. 10, 11, 11A, 12, and 12A show circuit drawings of oneof the receivers REI; Figs. 13 and 14 indicate mechanical details of astock register used in the receiver; Fig. 15 is a table showing the codeaccording to which the impulses are transmitted by the transmitter andare received and recorded in the receiver; Fig. 16 shows a modified formof the receiver REI to be used whenever differences in ground potentialare sufiicient to interfere with the operation of the receivingarrangement of Fig. 10; and Fig. 17, appearing on the lower part of thesame sheet with Fig. 5, is a layout of Figs. 1 to 12A.

The transmitter prises the stocktranslators STI, ST2, and ST3,

as well as the intermediate distributing frame IDF, Fig. 3. The priceregisters for registering the price (at which a current stocktransaction took place) under the control of the digit keys of Fig. 5comprises the-price registers shown in Fig. 7. The price register PHregisters the pricehundreds digit; the register PT registers theprice-tens digit; the register PU registers the price-units; and theregister PF registers the price-fractions digit. These designations holdtrue in case a full price quotation is sent, but the arrangement variessomewhat in case a lesser number of price digits is sent as will behereinafter explained.

- The stock code registers, shown in Fig. 4, are set from thetranslating apparatus of Fig. 3, through the intermediate distributingframe IDF, and comprise the stock-hundreds register SH, the stock-tensregister ST, and the stock-units register 8U. It maybe further pointedout that a so-called range indication (to be later explained) isregistered on the stock-range register SR 01' Fig. 6 under control ofthe range keys of Fig. 5, and that a price-range registration is set upautomatically by the action of the transfer relays, IOI, I03, I05, and101, associated with the price registers of Fig. 7.

It will be noted that the lower portion of Fig. 6 includes a rectanglelabeled register set #2". This register set #2 contains a duplicate ofthe equipment shown in Figs. 4 and 7, of the range register R of Fig. 6,and of the relays 835 and 836, Fig. 8. The two register sets arearranged to be used alternately so that a second registration may be setup immediately following the first and while the first is held stored onthe first register set and is being transmitted. The

' relays 8H and 6I5 are common to the two regis- The receiver In thereceiver, Figs. 10, 11, 11A, 12, and 12A,

the vacuum tubes I04I and I042 have their grid elements connected to theincoming line conductor 9H), and they have the responding relays IO0I,I002, and I003 connected in their plate circuits. These respondingrelays, with the cooperation of relays I MIL-I009 send impulses to setthe stock registers of Fig. 10 and to set the price registers of Fig.11. The stock registers of Fig. 10 are labeled SH, ST, SU, and SR. Theyare the hundreds,,tens, units, and range registers, respectively. Theprice registers of Fig. 11 are labeled PR, PH, PT, PU, and PF. They arethe range, hundreds, tens, units, and fraction registers, respectively.

Fig. 12 shows the stock-relay hundreds selector comprising relays I 20II2| 0, of which the relays I20I, I202, and I2I0 only are shown; to-

low the relays for the interconnection between the relay contacts andthe stock-relay pairs, such as the stock-relay pair comprising I24I andI242. The stock-relay pairs are divided into ten groups of not more thanone hundred relay-pairs per group, and the relays of Fig. 12 areoperated in accordance with the stock-hundreds digit to select thehundreds group in which a stock relay is to be operated.

Each stock on the receiving board is represented by twenty registers,such as the register R-I, Figs. 13 and 14, Fig. 14 being a front view.These registers are arranged in five horizontal rows, four-registers toa row. The top row (YC) indicates yesterdays closing price; the next row(0P) indicates todays opening price; the next row (HI) indicates today'shigh price; the next row (LO) indicates todays low price; and the bottomrow (LA) shows the last price received for the stock in question. Thestock-range relays I255 and I259, operated under the control of thestock-range register SR, Fig. 10, correspond, respectively, to the rowsof stock registers above named. If the relay I255 alone is operated, the

gether with the associated terminals provided beincoming price digitsare transmitted to the top row only of the registers, the other relayscontrolling the other rows, respectively.

Fig. 11A shows the local sender which operates under the control of theprice registers of Fig. 11 to send impulses to the stock registersthrough the medium of the receiving relays l26|--i264,

Detailed description The system having been described generally, adetailed description of the operation of the apparatus shown will now begiven. For this purpose. a description will be given of the operationsinvolved when the operator at the transmitter Ti, shown in Figs. 1 to 8and 8A sets up a quotation on her key set of which the stockletter keysare shown in Fig. 1, and the digit keys and range keys in Fig. 5.

It will be assumed that the register set #1, comprising the registeringapparatus of Figs. 4 and 7, the upper portion of Fig. 6, and relays 035and 831, Fig. 8, is in service at this time, this'being true because therelay 6 is energized, as shown, and because the relay BI! isdeenergized, as shown. It will beassumed further that the lettersrepresenting the stock whose quotation is to be transmitted are theletters B, B, and A and that the price to be transmitted is 104 and%dollars U0). The numerator only of the fractions of dollars istransmitted; the denominator 8, being the same in all cases, is nottransmitted.

It will be assumed further that this is neither the high price nor thelow price of the day and that it is accordingly set up as merely thelast price, abbreviated, LA. The full indication to be set up may berepresented by BBA--l04i-LA. The first portion is set up by operatingthe stockletter keys of Fig. 1. The second portion is set up byoperating the digit keys of Fig. 5; and the final portion (the rangeindication) is set up by operating a range key of Fig. 5.

Stock registration To set up this number" the operator first operatesthe letter key B of Fig. 1. These keys, it will be understood, arenon-locking keys of the push-button type, being arranged so that, whenthe operator depresses a key to close the contacts thereof, and thenreleases the key, the plunger returns to normal, and the contacts of thekey open.

When the key B is pushed, a circuit is closed from ground through thecontacts of the key and through contacts of the normally-energizedconnecting relay 202 for the register relay B of the stock register SRI.Relay B energizes and at its inner upper armature closes a lockingcircuit for itself through the transfer relay 20i from the groundedconductor 250, which is grounded through contacts of relays 201 and 208from the grounded conductor 602, which latter conductor is grounded inFig. 6 through contacts of the error relays, N3 of the register set #2,and N3 of the register set #1. B does not become effective immediately,and relay 20! remains short circuited and deenergized as long as the keyB of Fig. 1 is held depressed, but, when the key B is released, theshort circuit is removed from around relay 20l and it energizes inseries with relay B and opens the circuit of relay 202 and closes acircuit for connecting relay 204 through the inner armature of relay203. Relay 204 pulls up, and relay 202 falls back and disconnects theconductors of the keys register SRI.

The locking circuit for relay A to R from the storage relays A to R ofthe stock It will be noted, of course, that only the relays A, B, and Rof this set are shown and that only the corresponding contacts of relay202 are shown. It will be understood that the intervening relays areconnected up in the same manner as those shown. A similar curtailmentoccurs in the case of the registers SR2 and SR2, and in each case, ithas been for the purpose of simplifying the drawings.

When the operator depresses the stock-letter key 8' to register thesecond stock letter B, a circuit is closed through contacts of relay 204of the stock register SR2 for the B relay in this stock register. Itwill be noted that this relay is designated --B. This indicates that theregistration of this relay is the second letter of a stock, and that thefirst letter may be any one of several. When the relay --B operates, itcloses at its inner upper armature a locking circuitfor itself to thesaid grounded conductor 250 by way of the transfer relay 203. Relay 203is accordingly operated when the key B of Fig. 1 is allowed to restore,and it transfers the operating ground from relay 204 to relay- 206 byway of contacts of the transfer relay 2013. Accordingly relay 204 fallsback and disconnects the stock-letter keys A to Z from the second-letterstorage relays A to Z, and relay 206 energizes through contacts ofrelays 20!, 203, and 205, and connects the stock-letter keys A to Z tothe thirdletter relays -A to --Z of the stock register SR3. The relaysof the register SR3 are designated in this manner to indicate that theyare the third-letter relays and that the first two letters are variableletters; that is, either one of the first two letters may be any one ofa plurality.

When the operator depresses the key A of Fig. 1 a circuit is closedthrough contacts of relay 206 for the relay A, which operates and at itsinner upper armature closes a locking circuit for itself through relay205 to the grounded conductor 250. Accordingly, transfer relay 205operates in series with relay A when the A key is released, and at itsinner armature it disconnects relay 206 and allows it to fall back anddisconnect the stock-letter keys from the associated relays A to Z.

The stock concerning which the quotation is about to be transmitted hasnow been identified on the registering apparatus by the above-describedenergization of relay B of the stock register SRI, of relay-B of thestock register SR2, and of the relay -A of the stock register SR3. Thisthree-letter registration is to be subsequently translated by thetranslating apparatus of Fig. 3 into a. pre-assigned three-digit code ina manner to be hereinafter pointed out.

Price registration Referring now to Figs. 5, 6, and 7, when the operatordepresses the digit key I, Fig. 5, to register the price-hundreds digiti, a circuit is closed from ground through the right and left contactsof the digit key I over conductors SM and 502 for the storage relays Aand B of the price-hundreds register PH, Fig. 7, through contacts ofconnecting relay 102, which latter relay is energized through contactsof transfer relay 10l from the grounded conductor 601.comductor 601being supplied with ground potential through the lower armature of theenergized relay 6 of Fig. 6. When relays A and B of PH operate, theyclose locking circuits for themselves at their inner armatures throughtransfer relay 10! to the grounded conductor 6,

conductor 808 being grounded at this time through the upper contacts ofrelay BI! and the normally closed contacts controlled by theupperarmature of relay Bil. As a result, when the digit key I of Fig. 5is allowed to restore, the locking circuit for relays A and B becomeseffective, and relay 1M energizes therein and transfers the groundedconductor 80! from relay 102 to the connecting relay 104, throughcontacts of the transfer relay 103. Accordingly, relay I02 falls backand disconnects the key conductors Silk-504 from the relays A to D ofthe price-hundreds register PH, and relay 1M operates and connects theseconductors to the corresponding relays of? the price-tens register PT.

When the operator depresses the digit key 0 to set up the price-tensdigit, a circuit is closed from ground over conductor 504 and throughcontacts of connecting relay 104 for relay D of the price-tens registerPT. Relay D operates and locks itself at its inner armature to thegrounded conductor 606 by way of the transfer relay 103. Relay I03,accordingly, energizes when the digit key 0 is restored, and ittransfers the operating conductor 60'? from connecting relay 106 to theconnecting relay E06 by way of contacts of the transfer relay 705. Relay10d accordingly falls back and relay I06 operates, and conductors i50 lare disconnected from the relays of the register PT and are connected tothe ralys A to D of the register PU.

When the operator depresses the digit key 6 to set up the price-unitsdigit 4, a circuit is closed from ground through the contacts of thedigit key 4 over conductors 502 and 503 for the relays B and C of theprice-units register PU. These relays operate and close locking circuitsfor themselves at their inner armatures through the transfer relay 105to the grounded conductor 606. As a result, when the key 4 of Fig. 5 isreleased, relay I05 operates and transfers the operating ground fromrelay F06 of the priceunits register to the relay 108 of theprice-fractions register PF. Conductors Sill-5M are accordinglydisconnected from the relays of the price-units register by thedeenergization of relay 106 and are connected to the relays A to D ofthe register PG by the energization of relay I08.

When the fractions digit i (indicating is recorded by depressing thedigit key i, relays A and B of the price-fractions register PF operateoverconductors 50! and 502 and close locking circuits for themselves toconductor 808 by way of transfer relay 101. As a result, relay l0!operates when the digit key i is released, and it opens the circuit ofrelay 108, whereupon. relay 108 falls back and disconnects theconductors Sill-504 from the relays A to D of the pricefractionsregister PF.

Stock-range registration Having recorded the stock and the pricequotation, the operator indicates the stock range by depressing thestock-range key LA to cause the price quotation to be recorded as thelast price. When this key is depressed, a circuit is closed from groundthrough the contacts of the key and over conductor 508, and throughcontacts of relay Gil for relay D of the range register, relay 6H beingenergized from the grounded conductor 601 through contacts of relay BIO.Upon operating, relay D of the range register SR closes a self-lockingcircuit at its inner contacts through relay 'III to the groundedconductor 80!. As a result, relay ill energizes when the range key LA isreleased, with results to be explained hereinafter.

The registration is now complete and the result of the registration willbe taken up in detail.

Stock transfer and translation Since a stock may be identified by oneletter,

by two letters, or by three letters, arrangements are provided fordelaying the transfer of a registration to the translating apparatus ofFig. 3 until a price digit is recorded, in order to avoid the prematuretransfer of a two-letter indication as a single-letter indication or'thetransfer of a three-letter indication as a two-letter indication. Theway the transfer takes place will now be pointed out.

. When the transfer relay 10!, associated with the price-hundredsregister PH, energizes, as hereinbefore pointed out, upon the release ofa digit key following its depression for'the first price digit i, itcloses a circuit at its lower armature which starts at ground throughthe inner lower armature, normal, of transfer relay Bit of thestock-range register SR, Fig. 6, and continues by way of conductor 6%,lower contacts of relay 108, lower contacts of relay fill (nowenergized), stock-transfer conductor Ml, to the upper armatures ofrelays -'A to -Z of the register SR3, Fig. 2. This conductor is extendedto the corresponding armatures of the relays A to 2 of the stockregister SRZ'in case only a two-letter designation is recorded onaccount of the fact that relay 205 is not energized in such case, and itis extended through contacts of relay 203 to the corresponding armaturesof relays A to R of thestock register SRI in case only a oneletterdesignation is recorded, as in this case the transfer relay 203 is notoperated. However, in the present case, a full three-letter designationis recorded and the further extension of theconductor GM is preventeddue to the operated condition of the upper armature of .relay 205. Withrelay ---A energized as before explained, the circuit continues fromconductor 6M through the upper contacts of the relay A, contacts of theenergized relay B, to the relay BA of the stock translator 8T3. Relay BAenergizes.

The relay BA, it will be noted, has a plurality of sets of contacts,three contact pairs a set. Each of these contact sets is associated witha different one of the groups of conductors, three conductors a group,grounded under the control of the relays A to R of the stock registerSRI. Relay BA closes all of these conductors through to the left-handside of the intermediate distributing frame IDF, but only the setlabeled BBA at the frame IDF is grounded on account of the fact thatonly the relay B of the stock register SRI is energized.

On the right-hand side of the intermediate distributing frame IDF thereare three sets of terminals, one terminal set is connected with a groupof conductors labeled CDi, indicating that this group of conductorscorresponds to the first code digit; the next set of contacts on therighthand side of the IDF terminates the conductors labeled CD2, havingto do with the second code digit; while the third set of contactsterminates the group of conductors CD3, having to do with the third codedigit. The contacts of each of these sets are labeled 1 to 0, and theycorrespond respectively to the digits I to II. The conductor

